Long awaited update

I've gotten a bit lazy recently and just kept putting off updating so my apologies. (I'm sure not enough people even read this blog to warrant an apology..haha)

I spent the remainder of last week pretty much just relaxing - eating, going to the movies, watching Game of Thrones, and hanging out with friends. Sid, Brandon, Hong Kee, Lindsey, and Nate took me to a typical Dutch bar/disco Friday night and bought me Dutch beers as well as a very interesting drink called Flugel that comes in a tiny bottle. It tasted like candy and I highly recommend it. It's rare that alchy tastes good enough for me to not have to chase it down with a large soda. We left fairly early to go back to the apartment to watch more Game of Thrones. However, since it was a Friday night, we made a game out of it. For every gory scene, nudity, and the line "Winter is coming." we had to drink. If you've ever watched Game of Thrones, the show is nothing but gore, nudity, and winter.

Over the weekend, Sid, Brandon, and I spent it over in Amsterdam. We got to see Jerry and Anna, a couple other friends we had met during my stint in Shanghai 3 years ago. Congrats to the newly engaged couple!

So Amsterdam is a city filled with museums, beautiful architecture, and coffee shops. Now, coffee shops in the U.S. usually mean a cafe or Starbucks. Not in Amsterdam. Coffee shops are where you go to get your weed brownies and joints, and there are as plentiful as Starbucks in the Bay Area. There is also the red light district. I now know why those areas are called red light districts. In Amsterdam, prostitutes are displayed through glass doors and above the doors are red lights. There are also blue lights. The prostitutes under those are transgender. I guess they vary the options to cater to their international clientele. While we were walking around that area, I saw a Chinese tour group consisting of old Chinese men and married couples. I really hope my tour guide didn't take the remaining half of the group to the red light district..though I wouldn't put it past him.

Other activities in Amsterdam included the canal cruise, paddle boating, and the Van Gogh museum. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get into the Anne Frank house. The tickets can be bought online, but are sold out for days. If I ever go back to Amsterdam, I will definitely buy tickets a week in advance.

It feels like I've been in the Netherlands for ages now and that I've become part of Sid and Brandon's household. I'm like Owen Wilson in Me, You, and Dupree, except not as annoying and my stay not as indefinite. I'm so happy that I was able to get to see everyone. When I left Shanghai 3 years ago, it was sad because I didn't know when I would be able to see the people that had become some of my closest friends. 3 years later, I've been able to attend Sid's wedding, and this trip will have been the 3rd time I've seen her. That averages out to once a year. Not bad!

Thanks Sid and Brandon for being such great hosts, and thank you to Lindsey and Hong Kee for taking me around as well! You guys always have a place to stay with me wherever I may be in the States. :)

Horsedrawn carriage in Amsterdam

Paddle boating in Amsterdam

More paddle boating

The cat pose inspired by the Japanese

Break dancers in Amsterdam

Nate fell asleep playing the drinking game of Game of Thrones. He doesn't look too happy about being woken up. HAha

Anna, me, and Sid

Brandon and I overlooking one of the many canals in Amsterdam

Condom Museum

Sidney focusing on pedaling and Brandon focusing on steering (the paddleboat)

The historical museum in Rotterdam

Amsterdam Centraal train station

Seeing lots of gore and nudity on Game of Thrones

Last supper 

Boatel

Brandon's natural face

Roaming Amsterdam at night

Sid and Nate the disco/bar

"Burger Bitch" Not sure why it's named that. 

ALMOST better than In n' Out.

Matt and Anna. We're at a "coffee shop"

Most of Amsterdam looks like this. So pretty!

Rotterdam disco/bar

Butt plug. It's actually supposed to be a Christmas tree but no one calls it that in Rotterdam.

I got his hand! MWAHAHAH

I got a gold tooth. :D

Enjoying the park in Amsterdam. 

Me, Lindsey, and Hong Kee. 

Matt, Jerry, and Anna

Enjoying pie and coffee on a nice afternoon in Rotterdam. 

Storm's a comin'

Outside the Red Light District

Napping at the park in Amsterdam.

Random Euro. 

Listening intently to a video about Rotterdam history.

Burger joint in Amsterdam. We came here after eating dinner...at the restaurant across the street. 

the game of Game of Thrones!

Nate and Geana

There was a family section in the historical museum in Rotterdam. They had a kiddy table where you could draw your family. I drew my Dutch family. :)

Leiden, Delft, and Bugs

I didn't have to wander around alone yesterday thanks to Lindsey! We spent most of the day in Leiden, a town that the Pilgrims once lived in for a short period of time before their journey to Plymouth Rock. It's really cool to be visiting all the places that I used to just read about in history textbooks. We visited a house that had been in Leiden since the Pilgrims. Although it was only a home to one of the church clergy, it had been visited by a couple Pilgrims and now serves as a museum for them. The museum only consisted of 2 living quarters, but it was a very intimate setting meaning only the museum curator and a few of us visitors were there so we could touch everything, play around with the old items, and what not. There were some old 14th century books that the curator just opened and held like any regular book. When I used to work at the biological sciences library in Berkeley, I remember there were whole rooms dedicated to old books. The rooms' temperatures and humidity were carefully regulated to help preserve the books. The pilgrim books were simply laid out on the table and they look in the same condition as those heavily cared for books in Berkeley. I wonder if the curator knows he should handle those old books more carefully...

There was also an open air market along the river with a lot of FREE SAMPLES! It was like Costco with a European twist. I got to try all sorts of cheeses, olives, and even raw herring. In the Netherlands, a popular dish is a raw herring eaten with raw onions. It was GROSS and the taste of raw herring remained in my mouth for a few hours after.

After Leiden, Lindsey and I headed to Delft which is on the way back to Rotterdam. Deflt was home to the famous artist, Rembrandt. We visited his birthplace as well as the location where William of Orange was assassinated. William of Orange was a stadtholder, or governor, of the Dutch Republic in the 1600s.

At night, we had dinner with Sid and Brendan. Since the weather is rarely nice in Rotterdam, everyone was sitting outside to eat, enjoying the good weather. However, there were so many BUGS! They were in my drink, our chips, and I even found a spider on my lap! I'm not scared of bugs, but I don't like them in the vicinity of where I'm eating. At least it wasn't as gross as the time I was drinking a Coke when a bee crawled out of the can and almost into my mouth. Blehhhh

Picture time.

"Courage does good." - The fight against useless violence..what's useless violence versus useful violence? lol

Pilgrim toilet

With Lindsey, Sid, and Brendon at a Mexican restaurant. We were the only people sitting inside since only I seemed to be disturbed by the cloud of bugs that surrounded us sitting outside.

William of Orange was assassinated here.

A 15th century fake. This is a European vase forged by a Japanese potter. Man, the Asians were making those fakes even then!

Birthplace of Rembrandt

A poem by Yeats painted on the side of an apartment. There were a number of these throughout Leiden.

Pilgrim museum

The old citadel used for defense in the early days of Leiden.

CHEESE!

Inside the pilgrim house.

Old books!!

Eating raw herring.

Another pilgrim toilet. I looked down and it was like a neverending abyss. O_O

Leiden

Toothpaste bench

Baby stool used in the pilgrim days.

Random teepee.

The restaurant Lindsey's family used to own in Leiden.

Just chillin with a friend in Delft.

Descendent of a pilgrim.